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Alan Silvestri
| birth_place = New York City, New York | Married = Sandra | occupation = Composer, conductor | instrument = Drums | genre = Film score | years_active = 1972–present }} Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor known for his film and television scores. He is best known for his frequent collaboration with Robert Zemeckis, composing for such major hit films as the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away, and Forrest Gump. Silvestri also composed scores for the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. His other film scores include Predator and its sequel Predator 2, The Abyss, The Quick and the Dead, Mac and Me, Mouse Hunt, Stuart Little, The Mummy Returns, Lilo & Stitch, Night at the Museum and its sequels, and Ready Player One. He is a two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee, and a three-time Saturn Award and Primetime Emmy Award recipient. Early life and education Silvestri's grandparents emigrated in 1909 from the Italian town of Castell'Alfero, and settled in Teaneck, New Jersey.Meredith May, "Alan Silvestri pairs music with wine", SFGate (June 7, 2013). He grew up in Teaneck,Subscribe to Ali AASCAP Henry Mancini Award, ASCAP. Accessed October 21, 2008. Manhattan-born and Teaneck, New Jersey-bred, Silvestri attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music before joining a Las Vegas band as a guitarist." and attended Teaneck High School.Coutros, Evonne. "THE DRUMMER WHOM `GUMP' MARCHES TO", The Record (Bergen County), March 26, 1995. Accessed October 21, 2008. "Nearly three decades after Alan Silvestri drummed out beats for the Teaneck High School band, he's hoping to march to the podium Monday night to collect an Oscar." He went to Berklee College of Music for two years. Alan was a drummer for a short time in 1966 with Teaneck-based rock band The Herd. Career Silvestri started his film/television composing career in 1972 at age 21 composing the score for the low-budget action film The Doberman Gang. From 1977 to 1983, Silvestri served as the main composer for the television series CHiPs, writing music for 95 of the series' 139 episodes. Silvestri met film director Robert Zemeckis when the two worked together on Zemeckis's film Romancing the Stone (1984). Since then, Silvestri has composed the music for all of Zemeckis's movies, including the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy (1985–1990), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), A Christmas Carol (2009), Flight (2012) and The Walk (2015). In 1989, Silvestri composed the score for the James Cameron-directed blockbuster The Abyss, and is also known for his work on the films Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990), both of which are considered preeminent examples of action/science fiction film scores. Since 2001, Silvestri has also collaborated regularly with director Stephen Sommers, scoring the films The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). His most recent work includes The Avengers (2012), The Croods (2013), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Silvestri has also composed music for television series, including T. J. Hooker (one episode), Starsky & Hutch (three episodes), Tales from the Crypt (seven episodes). In 2014, he composed the award-winning music for the science documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. On January 31, 2014, it was announced that a stage musical adaptation of Back to the Future was in production. The show, which is being co-written by original writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, was expected to be performed in 2015, on the 30th anniversary year of the film. Silvestri teamed up with Glen Ballard to compose a new score, with the addition of original songs from the film, including "The Power of Love", "Johnny B. Goode", "Earth Angel" and "Mr. Sandman". Personal life Silvestri and his wife Sandra own a vineyard, Silvestri Vineyards, located in Carmel Valley, California. . Silvestrivineyards.com. Retrieved on May 2, 2012. He has a daughter and two sons and has a license to fly his own jet plane. Awards Silvestri has received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Original Score for Forrest Gump (1994) and one for Best Original Song for "Believe" on The Polar Express soundtrack. He also received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Score for Forrest Gump and Best Song for The Polar Express. Silvestri was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music in 1995.https://www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=1065 He has also received four Grammy Award nominations, winning two awards – Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, for "Believe" from The Polar Express in 2004 and Best Instrumental Composition, for "Cast Away End Credits" from Cast Away in 2002. His other nomination was for Best Soundtrack Album, for Back to the Future. During the 2005 Grammy Awards, Josh Groban performed "Believe". He has won two Emmys, both for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the episode "Standing Up in the Milky Way". He has won the Saturn Award for Best Music three times, for his scores for Predator (1987), Back to the Future Part III (1989/90) and Van Helsing (2004). On September 23, 2011, he was awarded with the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award by the City of Vienna at the yearly film music gala concert Hollywood in Vienna. Discography Films 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Television series References External links *AlanSilvestri.com * * *Alan Silvestri at Soundtrackguide.net *Castell'Alfero (Italy) country of Asti of which it is City Honorarium * Category:1950 births Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century American conductors (music) Category:20th-century American pianists Category:20th-century classical pianists Category:20th-century male musicians Category:21st-century American composers Category:21st-century American conductors (music) Category:21st-century American pianists Category:21st-century classical pianists Category:21st-century male musicians Category:American classical pianists Category:American film score composers Category:American male classical composers Category:American male conductors (music) Category:American male pianists Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American television composers Category:Animation composers Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Decca Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Male film score composers Category:Male television composers Category:People from Teaneck, New Jersey Category:People of Piedmontese descent Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners Category:Varèse Sarabande Records artists